Railway-car coupling.



V. S. DURBIN.

RAILWAY CAR CGUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED IYuIIe 23. IIIIs.

1,203,819. Patented OCI. 31,1916.

. 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

@Le Jiffy V. S. DURBIN.

RAILWAY CAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23. |915.

Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

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VOTAW S. DURBIN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

RAILWAY-CAR COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

Application led .Tune 23, 1915. Serial No. 35,786.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it lmown that I, Voraw S. DURBIN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway-Car Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in railway-car couplers, and has for its object to provide a novel construction whereby the couplers are enabled to stand a greater pulling strain than car couplers of the types now in commonl use.

With the advent of all-steel cars, coupled with the great length of trains, especially freight trains, which modern improvements in engines has made it possible to utilize, it has been found necessary to increase the strength of the couplers to meet the added strain of the increased load of the trains. With the strongest couplers now in use, however, it very frequently occurs that one or the other of the knuckles of the coupler will pull out owing to the knuckle pin being unable to withstand the strain and breaking. One means of increasing the ability of the coupler to withstand a pulling strain has been to provide the knuckle with a tongue provided at its rear end with a hook which in operation is adapted to engagebehind the locking pin. Such construction isV shown in Letters-Patent No. 1,000,591, dated August 15th, 1911, granted to J. F. Durbin and myself. In such construction the locking pin will take practically all of the strain off of the knuckle pin and under any circumstances supplements the resistance of the latteroeredtothepull againsttheknuckle. The construction above referred to has in actual practice been demonstrated to be capable of withstanding a far greater pulling strain than other standard types of coupler with which it was placed in competition. While the construction of the patent referred to represented a great advance in the art, it was found that when subjected toa pulling strain approaching 300,000 pounds the hook engaging .behind the lockingpin would frequently break oif, throwing upon the knuckle pin thework of resisting the pull, which, of course, it would be unable to do, and accordingly break oli'.

The improvements set forth in the present invention have, in actual test, enabled the couplers to withstand a pulling .strain greatly exceeding 300,000 pounds; and hence a car coupler constructed according to this invention canbedepended upon to withstand a pulling strain far in excess of that which anycoupler now in use, of which I am aware, is. able to withstand.

My'invention is particularly designed for car couplers of the automatic type such as illustrated in the patent above referred to, but is not Vnecessarily limited to such type of "car coupler.

' The characteristic feature of a car coupler constructedlaccording tothe present invention is that of Vinterengaging. flangesY or ribs and groovesl provided, respectively, on the tongue of the knuckle and the walls of the coupler head, and so arranged as to permit the ready movement ofthe knuckle in open-4 ing and closing, and while in the closed position affording a firm resistance to the pull df theknuckle. i

A clearer understanding ofthe invention, together with features of construction contributing to the attainment of the main purpose thereof may be had from reading the following description in connection with the drawings.

In said 'drawings,-Figure 1 is a view of two coupler heads in lposition to becoupled, the coupler head at the left being shown in top plan, and the knuckle thereof being in an open position, andthecoupler head at the right beingshown in horizontalsection withthe knuckle thereof locked in the closed position; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, and viewed in the direction of the arrows;l Fig. 3 is a section'on the line 3-3 of Fig.' 1 and viewed in thedirection of the arrows.; Fig. a; is av section on the line l-fl of Fig. 1, and viewed in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 5 is a view of the coupler head at the right of Fig. 1 with the knuckle and cooperating parts removed to illustrate the construction of the locking groove in the bottom wall of the coupler head.

Referring now tol these drawings, i the numerals 1, 2, indicate corresponding coupler heads of the standard type,.each head having mounted therein, on a knuckle pin 3, a knuckle 4, having a tongue 5 which is provided at its rear end with a hook 6. The hooks 6 of the respective knuckles are adapted to engage behind locking pins 7, these parts being of the usual Vor any preferred construction.

.As the `construction of each coupler'head 1, 2, is identical the further descriptionV of the invention will deal with only one cou pler head, that shown at the right of Fig. 1 being particularly selected for this purpose. The coupler head is hollow and projecting upward from the bottom thereof is an inclined ridge 8 which is provided with a curved groove 9, the walls whereof are inclined in Opposite directions to the vertical. The portion of this ridge on the side of the groove 9 nearest the outer edge of the cou. pler head provides a curved inclined bearing 10 which is of helicoid form, and which preferably rises gradually from the outer edge of the coupler to the side wall thereof, as more clearly indicated in Fie: 5. The inner wall 11 of the groove 9 is struck on a curve concentric with the vcenter of the aperture 12 which accommodates the knuckle pin 3; the outer wall 13, however, being struck on a curve eccentric to the curve of the in ner wall'll, for a purpose to be presently explained. v

The numeral 14 indicates a recess which is provided in the under side of the tongue 5 immediately over the bearing 10, and housed in this recess is an anti-friction roller 15 which is supported on an axle pin 16. Frojecting from the under side of the tongue 5 is a curved flange 17 having its sides inclined to the vertical to correspond with the in-V oline of the walls of the groove V9, and which extends from side to side of the tongue Vand is adaptechwvhe'n the knuckle l is in the closed position, indicated at the right of Fig. 1, to litsnugly within'the groove 9 but soas not to bind against the walls thereof. As shown by Fig. 5, the groove 9 gradually decreases in widthV from its outer to its inner end, and the flange 17 will therefore correspondingly taper from its outer to its innerend. The body of the tongue 5 above the flange 17 is longitudinally bored, as indicated at 18, the bore extending across the recessfl, and in this bore is loosely mounted the axle pin 16. The inner end of said axle pin is screw-threaded, as indicated at 19, and the roller 15 Land the axle pin 16 are maintained in position by first inserting the' roller in the recess 14:, and then inserting the axle pin lf3 into the bore 18 Vand passing it through said roller and screwing its ,endV through a nut 20 inserted in ther recess with said roller.

The under side of the top of the head 2 is provided with an inclined or helicoid ridge 21L extending from the outer edge of the head to the side wall thereof, said ridge being provided in its under side with a curved groove 22 having inclined walls. The upper side of the tongue 5 is provided with a curved or helicoid flange 23, shown at the right of Fig. 1, having its sides inclined to correspond with the incline of the walls of YYthe groove 22, extending from side to side head maybe considered to correctly Villus-VV trate the shape and dimension of the groove 22 in the top of the head, and the illustration of the flange 23 on the upper side of the tongue 5, shown at the right of Fig. 1, may Y be considered to clearly illustrate thesliape and dimensions of the flange 17 on the' Vunder side of the tongue l As shown by Fig. 3, the flange 23 lies directly over the roller 15, which tends to cause the flange 28 to move smoothly and evenly in the groove 22 .without binding against either wall thereof,'which latter might result to a. certain extent if the said roller were located to one side or the other of said flange, which would cause the side of said flange to rest against one or the other of the walls of the groove 22. This result is obviated in connection with the lia-nge 17 by having the roller 15- locatedad'jacentthereto, which acts to yhold said flange out of binding contact with the walls of the groove 9.

The portion 24: of the ridge 21 lying near'- est the outer edge' of the head, and corresponding to the curved bearing 10 of the lower ridge SV serves as an abutment against Awhich the curved flange 28 engages when the tongue 5 is turned into the coupler head, when the knuckle Vis vturned to the Vclosed position.

tion with the flange 17. Then the knuckle is turned from the yopen position shown at the leftv of Fig. 1, to the closedposition shown at the rifrht of said ligure, the flanges 17 and 23 will enter the respective grooves 9 and 22 and engage kbehind the, curved abutments 10 and 24 which thus afford a The portion 10 of the ridge 8 serves aA corresponding function in connec-V ier strong resistance to the Ioutward movement of the knuckle in a rightV li'ne under a pulling strain, and in connection with the lock ing pin 7 practically prevent any strain whatever from coming on the knuckle pin 3. Such flange and groove engagement, therefore, greatly increases-the power ofthe coupler tov withstand a pulling strain. i

ln the movement of the knuckle, in closing or opening, the roller 15 vrides upon the surface ofthe bearing Y1() insuring thel move-VV ment of the knuckle with a minimum of.V

friction and also facilitatingl the .automatic 'opening of the knuckle when the locking pin 7 is raised. It will be understood that in closing the knuckle the rollerl rides up the inclined bearing 10 and raises the knuckle in the head, as shown at the right of Fig.2 and in Fig'. 3. When the locking pin 7 is withdrawn the action of gravity will cause the roller l5 to ride downward on the inclined bearing l0, and thereby cause the tongue 5 to swing outward to move the knuckle al to the open position. In this latter movement, and especially if it is accomplished while separating two cars, the tendency would be for the outer sides of the flanges 17 and Q3 to bind against the outer walls of the grooves 9 and 22 as the knuckle has a very loose fit upon the knuckle pin 3, and has, therefore, a slight movement independent thereof. By making the outer walls of the grooves 9 and 22 eccentric to the aXis of the knuckle pin, the cooperating outer sides of the flanges 17 and 23, in the outward movement of the tongue 5, will be moved away from the outer walls of these grooves and thus binding of the tongues with said walls is prevented. This latter action is further facilitated by the fact that, as

the knuckle moves downwardly, as well as outwardly, the incline of the meeting surfaces` of the flanges and grooves insures that the former will instantly move out of contact with the walls of the latter in the opening movement of the knuckle.

l The bell-crank lever 25 for raising the locking pin 7 and the gravity catch 26 for holding the locking pin when raised, and the control of the latter by the movement of the tongue 5, are all set forth in Letters-Patent No. 1,033,388, granted to J. F. Durbin and myself, dated July 23, 1912-, and need not be described herein, as the same form no part of the present invention.

I claim:

l. In a car coupler, the combination of a head having a curved engaging member, and a knuckle rotatably mounted in said head, and having a flange for engaging said engaging member, said flange and said engaging member of helicoid form about the aXis of rotation of said knuckle.

Q. In a car coupler, the combination of a head having a groove in its bottom, and a knuckle rotatably mounted in said head, and having a tongue on its under side to engage in said groove, the engaging surface of said tongue and said groove inclining correspondingly in a direction longitudinally with the axis of rotation of said knuckle.

3. In a car coupler, a head providedon its bottom with a curved inclined bearing, and a knuckle mounted in said head and having a tongue adapted to ride on thesurface of said bearing and provided on its under side with a curved flange adapted to engage behind said bearing.

4. In a car coupler, a head provided on its bottom with a curved inclined bearing, a knuckle mounted in said head and having a tongue, a roller mounted in said tongue and supported on said bearing, and a curved flange provided on the under side of said tongue and adapted to engage behind said bearing.

5. In a car coupler, a head provided in its bottom with a helicoid groove, one wall whereof is eccentric to the other, and a knuckle mounted in said head and provided on its under side with a helicoid flange adapted to engage in said groove and corresponding substantially in shape and dimensions thereto.

6. In a car coupler, the combination of a head, provided on its top and bottom with curved helicoidal ridges having grooves, and a knuckle rotatably mounted in said head and having a tongue provided on its upper and lower sides respectively with corresponding curved helicoidal flanges to engage in said grooves.

7. In a car coupler, the combination of a head provided on its top and bottom with curved helicoid engaging portions and a knuckle rotatably mounted in said head and provided on its upper and lower sides with correspondingly curved helicoid portions to engage behind said first-mentioned engaging portions, the meeting faces on the sides of said respective portions correspondingly inclined to the vertical.

S. In a car coupler, a head, a knuckle pivotally mounted in said head, said head and knuckle having inclined counterpart interengaging portions curved with respect to the pivotal axis of the knuckle and arranged and adapted to resist strains in a right line when the knuckle is in closed position, and an antifriction bearing between said inclined interengaging portions of said head and knuckle.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

VOTAW S. DURBIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

